In a Tuesday Senate Banking Committee hearing, Senator Reverend Warnock touted the federal funding he secured for public transportation in Georgia through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law he championed
Thanks to Senator Reverend Warnock’s efforts, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides nearly $1.5 billion for public transportation throughout Georgia
Senator Reverend Warnock successfully fought to secure changes to the Capital Investment Grant (CIG) program to boost Georgia priorities; the Senator’s provision has already helped MARTA start planning work on the Clayton County Bus Rapid Transit project
Senator Reverend Warnock: “I look forward to working with the FTA to ensure that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law continues to expand access to public transportation in Georgia in rural and in our urban communities”
Washington, D.C. — Yesterday during a Senate Banking Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) highlighted the importance of the federal funding he secured to strengthen and expand public transportation in Georgia through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and questioned Administrator Nuria Fernandez of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) about how the law is working both to improve public transportation access for Georgians in urban and rural areas, and boost local economies. Thanks to Senator Warnock’s efforts, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides Georgia with nearly $1.5 billion to invest in public transportation priorities throughout the state. Senator Warnock also successfully fought to secure key updates to the Capital Investment Grant (CIG) program that would allow more Georgia priorities to compete for federal funding; this policy change spearheaded by Senator Warnock has already allowed MARTA to begin planning work on the Clayton County Bus Rapid Transit project.
“Safely and efficiently getting Georgians where they need to go is a priority of mine. And that is why I fought to include provisions from my Capital Investments Grant Improvement Act, and increased funding for the CIG program, in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The provision I wrote to lift the Small Starts Project size cap is already enabling MARTA, Georgia’s largest public transportation service, to develop and improve its transportation infrastructure to benefit millions of passengers,” the Senator said during the hearing, before questioning Administrator Fernandez about how this policy would help create jobs and expand public transportation service in Georgia.
“As I often say, if people can’t get to where they’re going, they can’t get to where they’re going. Or said more positively: we need to help people to get to where they need to go through being able to move physically. So, I look forward to working with the FTA to ensure that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law continues to expand access to public transportation in Georgia in rural and in our urban communities,” Senator Warnock added after his questioning.
According to Georgia Department of Transportation, there are 97 transit systems (17 urban and 80 rural) in Georgia serving 123 out of 159 counties. Urban transit systems in Georgia serve 28 counties, providing more than 170 million passenger trips. Meanwhile, Georgia’s 80 rural systems serve 95 counties, providing 1.6 million passenger trips.
WATCH video of Senator Reverend Warnock’s questioning from the Banking Committee hearing HERE.
See below a full transcript of Senator Warnock’s exchange with Administrator Fernandez:
Senator Reverend Warnock (SW): “Folks in Georgia are very much focused on public transit and, like Senator Ossoff, it’s certainly a concern of mine and a high priority. Everyday thousands of Georgians rely on public transportation; from Atlanta commuters taking MARTA to work, to our veterans and our seniors who are living in rural Georgia, using one of our 80 rural transit services, to get to their doctor’s appointments. 80 rural transit services. I think that’s an important point. Because often when you talk about public transit, as you know, people assume urban, but the rural communities very much rely on transit services in some ways more. Safely and efficiently getting Georgians where they need to go is a priority of mine. And that is why I fought to include provisions from my Capital Investments Grant Improvement Act, and increased funding for the CIG program in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The provision I wrote to lift the Small Starts Project size cap is already enabling MARTA, Georgia’s largest public transportation service, to develop and improve its transportation infrastructure to benefit millions of passengers. Administrator Fernandez, how will lifting the project size cap for small starts, create jobs, allow more communities to benefit from the CIG program and expand public transportation service?”
Administrator Fernandez (AF): “Senator, the Small Starts Program is a very important program as part of our Capital Investment Grant. And I can say to you that there is a pipeline right now in our CIG of over 60 projects, 50% of those are small starts. So, we’re seeing more and more bus rapid transit projects coming to the fold. And that the pipeline itself is, as I noted earlier, 150% greater than anything we’ve ever had vying for funds. By lifting that cap, what it would do is give transit agencies the opportunity to better bring their resources, their local resources, and be able to maybe even accelerate some of the projects that they have in their portfolio. And if it’s a single project that they’re pursuing in a community or maybe their first ever Small Starts Project, it gives them the opportunity to introduce that project sooner, and to be able to bring that high quality service to the community and the quarters that it will serve.”
SW: “As I often say, if people can’t get to where they’re going, they can’t get to where they’re going. Or said more positively: we need to help people to get to where they need to go through being able to move physically. So, I look forward to working with the FTA to ensure that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law continues to expand access to public transportation in Georgia in rural and in our urban communities. During the height of the pandemic rural transit systems played a critical role in preserving public health and filling the gaps — whether it was meal delivery, or rides to vaccination sites. So, I’m not surprised that when I travel across Georgia — I was down in Valdosta a couple weeks ago, Waycross before that, Columbus— I hear and see demand for small urban and rural transit services, to connect Georgians to health care services, to education, jobs, grocery stores, and so much more. Last year, I introduced the HOPE Act to help rural and disadvantaged communities identify and address their transportation needs. I’m glad that this year’s government funding bill provided $20 million for the HOPE Act now known as the Areas of Persistent Poverty Program, which will unlock funding for rural transit projects and communities like Chatham County, Savannah, Georgia, Valdosta, and will improve access to jobs. Administrator Fernandez, what has FTA learned in its early implementation of the Areas of Persistent Poverty Program as it works to make public transportation services more accessible?”
AF: “Senator, it’s a very important program and what we’re learning is that there are communities where the access to a minivan that can get an individual who recently had surgery and needs to go for physical therapy and can no longer drive or cannot drive throughout that period. It is their connection to health improvement. It is their ability to recover. I was recently in Jackson, Mississippi, and had the opportunity to talk to a woman who had experienced just that, where she thought that public transportation was for other people. And she realized that that other person was her and recognizing that she lived on a street that did not have a name, or an address. But the paratransit vehicle was still able to reach to her location and get her to where she needed to go. So, we recognize and have always been very cognizant of the significance of having good public transportation in rural areas. And that’s one of the reasons that through our Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility, bringing together all of the resources in government, that are available to whether it’s human services, and some of the other cabinet departments and agencies to encourage leveraging those dollars, so that service transportation, non-emergency, transportation is available to individuals, no matter where they live.”
SW: “I’m out of time. But you talk about the importance of this in the ordinary everyday lives of Georgians. Congress, as you know, funded a persistent poverty program in appropriations this year, but has not permanently authorized the program for future years. From where you sit, can you talk about the importance of ongoing funding of these programs for rural and low-income communities?”
AF: “Yeah, these programs are very important. We know that these areas are designated when there’s 20% of poverty in the county. And that’s how it’s designated and recognize that many of these locations are distant from urban centers, that are distant from trauma centers, and other critical needs and access points. So clearly, having human service transportation together with rural operators working collaboratively to ensure that there’s always access to individuals, whether it’s for routine, or whether it’s for medical services, that public transportation can be there when it’s needed.”
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